La Ligue contre le cancer récompense les travaux du Dr Aziz Moqrich !
- For the fourth consecutive year, the League has awarded the Axel Kahn Prize for Pain and Cancer, recognizing individuals whose work has contributed to advancing knowledge and treatment of cancer-related pain by developing original and innovative approaches. The prize was presented on December 9 at the Collège de France.
Long relegated to the background, pain management remains one of the major challenges in oncology. It is a battle that the League Against Cancer is pursuing with determination through the 2025 Axel Kahn “Pain and Cancer” Award, which this year recognizes three major and particularly promising advances.
Beyond oncological treatments themselves, how can pain be made a fully-fledged part of patient care? The League provides a concrete answer by recognizing innovative approaches at the crossroads of research, technology, and humanity.
The 2025 winners embody this ambition:
- Dr. Aziz Moqrich, for the design of an analgesic drug for acute and chronic pain that is effective without the side effects associated with opioids ;
- Dr. Antoine Lemaire, for the development and promotion of photobiomodulation, an analgesic approach based on the use of light; ;
- Dr. Petronela Rachieru, for establishing a palliative care pathway specifically tailored to children with serious and incurable diseases.
Named in honor of Axel Kahn, former president of the League Against Cancer, who personally shared his experiences with pain. It carries a powerful message: recognizing and supporting solutions that can relieve the pain experienced by some six out of ten patients during their course of treatment.
Encouraging oncology to fully integrate pain management is now a necessity. By recognizing these still too rare contributions, the 2025 Axel Kahn “Pain and Cancer” Prize highlights essential scientific and humanitarian initiatives. It will be presented on December 9, 2025, at the Collège de France by the League Against Cancer.
About TAFALGIE THERAPEUTICS
TAFALGIE THERAPEUTICS is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation pain treatments without the side effects of opioids.
Its research is based on the characterization of TAFA4, an endogenous protein which modulates pain signals passing between peripheral sensory neurons and the central nervous system. Derived from this protein, the drug candidates developed by the company aim to relieve and prevent acute or chronic pain (inflammatory, neuropathic) and post-operative pain, without the risks of the most commonly used analgesics (sedation, respiratory and digestive problems, tolerance and dependence). Responding to a medical need that is unsatisfied on a global scale, TAFALGIE THERAPEUTICS was founded in October 2020. A spin-off from CNRS and Aix-Marseille University, it is supported by Bpifrance and the EIC Accelerator program
